1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for managing Internet protocol (IP) addresses in a network. Particularly, the invention relates to a method for managing IP addresses of servers and virtual machines in a network.
2. Description of Related Art
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a director center 20 and a plurality of servers 30 in a network 10 according to the related art. The director center 20 controls operations of the plurality of the servers 30. Moreover, each of the servers 30 executes one or more of virtual machines 32, and each of the virtual machines 32 is used for providing specific network service. The director center 20 further includes a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server 24 for assigning the Internet protocol (IP) addresses to the servers 30 and the virtual machines 32 according to the media access control (MAC) addresses of the servers 30 and the virtual machines 32.
All of the virtual machines 32 are established by the servers 30 based on a system image 26. When one of the servers 30 is turned on, the turned-on server 30 loads the system image 26 and establishes the virtual machine(s) 32 thereof based on the same system image 26. Since all of the virtual machines 32 are established according to the same system image 26, the MAC addresses of the virtual machines 32 would be identical to each other at the beginning of establishing the virtual machines 32. As a result, the control module 22 cannot be sure of the assigned IP addresses of the virtual machines 32 since the MAC addresses of the virtual machines are the same. Accordingly, the control module 22 cannot remotely control the operations of the servers 30 and the virtual machines 32 according to the IP addresses of the servers 30 and the virtual machines 32.